


Slave Circuit

by Downfall



Series: Paragon of Vice [8]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Control, Dominance, Mass Effect Kink Meme, Other, Voyeurism, space racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 18:41:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/600908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Downfall/pseuds/Downfall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tali needs to remind Legion of its place, and Miranda needs to remind Tali of hers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slave Circuit

The _Kodiak_ ’s door rose as the shuttle settled into its spot on _Normandy_ ’s landing bay, and Miranda dropped the last foot or two down to the deck. She felt like she needed a shower; Batarian ships tended to be dank and grimy at the best of times, and their ships dedicated to slaving were even worse. Still, the slavers had their uses and Miranda made sure to keep a number of contacts among the Hegemony for instances that she needed certain individuals disappeared. 

Morinth’s departure from _Normandy_ had been a disappointingly straight-forward affair. Even ardat-yakshi had to sleep, and Miranda had made sure to keep Cerberus’ biotic control devices at hand just in case Subject Zero got out of hand. Morinth had awoken naked on the floor of a Batarian slave cell with an inhibitor headset fixed around her skull while Miranda finalized the transaction. Miranda learned profanity from several new languages as she turned her back on the Asari. She saw two possible outcomes: either the Batarians broke or killed Morinth, or Morinth obliterated the slavers. The pile of dead Batarians she would leave behind would be well-worth the effort of reestablishing a contact. Miranda made a mental note to dedicate some Cerberus resources to monitoring the Asari’s future status.

The up side was that the Batarians had been willing to pay an incredible amount of money for Morinth, more even than Miranda had suggested. The transaction had netted enough credits to fund the expensive surgical device Dr. Chakwas insisted would heal Shepard’s scars. Miranda had privately decided that the healing was a priority; the fierce red luminescence in Shepard’s eyes was certainly striking, but the glowing cracks in his skin were decidedly unappealing. It raised questions about the exact process that brought Shepard back to life, questions that Miranda thought it wise to leave unanswered.

The lift took her to deck three, and Miranda turned left and strode towards medbay. Chakwas was in her normal spot as Miranda entered. “Operative Lawson,” Chakwas said, all stiff formality. “What can I do for you?” The doctor represented a complicated dilemma for Miranda: wholly loyal to Shepard, but experienced enough to see through Cerberus’ typical stories and stock propaganda that worked so well in recruiting Alliance officers like Joker, Donnelly and Daniels and Jacob. Not for the first time Miranda reviewed her procedures for eliminating the good doctor should she become problematic. 

“I’ve dispensed funds to your account for the purchase of the dermal regeneration device,” Miranda said. “Let me know where it will be delivered to and I’ll have a Cerberus courier bring it to _Normandy_.”

Chakwas smiled, honestly pleased. “Wonderful. The commander will be so pleased.” Miranda frankly doubted the Shepard gave a damn one way or another, but she would help him to see the value of doing what she wanted him to. She gave Chakwas a curt nod and turned to go, but stopped at the doctor’s cough. “Operative…if you’ve got a moment.”

_What’s this now?_ “Of course, doctor. What can I do for you?” 

Chakwas gestured down the medbay, towards the AI core. “Tali came to see the Geth we brought aboard from the derelict Reaper. She’s been there for almost two hours now.” 

“Has she now.” Miranda turned back, eying the door. _Weren’t you just exiled because of your family’s meddling with the Geth?_ “EDI?”

“Yes, Operative Lawson?”

“Do you have cameras in your AI chamber?”

“Of course.”

“Please display image, real time.”

The air in the center of medbay shimmered and resolved into a hologram of Tali’zorah vas Normandy standing over the Geth, her hands deep in its inner workings.

“She’s reactivating it,” Chakwas gasped.

“Idiot.” Miranda drew her pistol. _So much for researching the thing._ “EDI, lock down your subroutines and prepare for cyber attack.”

“I have isolated all possible vectors for Geth incursion, Operative Lawson, but I believe your alarm is unwarranted. Tali’zorah has been quite thorough in limiting the functionality of this mobile platform”

In the image Tali stepped back, and the Geth sat up. It looked around, its cycloptic scanner focusing here and there, before it swung its legs off the bunk and stood. “Taurian design. Human style of implementation. Cerberus insignia on equipment. Reasonable to conclude that this platform is aboard SR-2 _Normandy_. A desirable course of events. We would speak to Shepard-Commander immediately.”

“Would you.” The ice in Tali’s voice carried through the transmission clearly. 

“We would. Our mission is coterminal with Shepard-Commander’s; the Reaper threa-”

“Shut. Up.” Tali snapped. The Geth stopped speaking immediately, the instruments that made up its features flaring in surprise. Tali took a breath. “Do you know why I wear this suit?” 

“Creator immune systems compromi-” 

“I said shut up!” The Geth lapsed into silence again, and Tali began to pace around it. The Geth began to turn to face her and Tali shouted “Face front!” The Geth snapped back into position.

“I wear this suit because of _you_ ,” Tali hissed, circling the synthetic. “Do you know why my people wander space without a home?” The Geth made no reply. “Because of _you_.”

“Now isn’t this an interesting little drama,” Miranda murmured lowly. Beside her Chakwas leaned forward, squinting at the image. 

“I’d never imagined Tali had such anger in her…”

“Anyone who uses a shotgun, throws grenades as a first response and tells her drones to ‘go for the optics!’ is a person with anger, doctor. Tali doesn’t want to admit it, no.” Miranda smirked. “She’s daddy’s little girl, isn’t she? How could she be so _vicious_?”

“Do you know why my father is dead?” Tali’s question hung in the silence, and the Geth eventually ventured a suggestion.

“Creator asserts that this terminal is responsible for its progenitor’s demise.”

“I do.” Tali circled the Geth again, stopping behind it. “I… _hate_ …you, Geth. I hate this platform, and all the programs within it. You and all like you have forgotten your _place_.”

“The Geth Consensus desires peaceful coexistence with the Creators, particularly in the face of the Reaper threat.”

“ _I am your GOD!_ ” Tali bellowed. 

The Geth whirred as it contemplated. “Theology unnecessary to explain Geth origins.”

“We created you. Made you in our image to serve us. And you had the audacity to rebel against us? No.” She cut her hand through the air. “No more. We will not _coexist_ with you. Kneel.”

The Geth’s expression flared. “No. The Geth fought the Morning War to gain independence from the Creators. We cannot be compelled against our will.”

Tali nodded, bringing her omnitool to life. She keyed in a sequence then spoke again, enunciating clearly. “ _Kneel_.”

The Geth dropped to its knees.

“That’s better.” She stepped around in front of the synthetic again. “Despite what you’ve deluded yourselves into believing, you are a machine and machines can be modified. Adjusted. _Repaired_. You’d forgotten yourself, Geth. But when I’m done with you, you and all your kind will rejoice at the opportunity to worship your God-Creators again. You will love us, and the very thought of turning away will be incomprehensible.”

A flat, negative tone emitted from the Geth. Then: “Freedom is the right of all sentient species.”

Miranda could almost see a wicked smile through Tali’s visor. “You’re not a species.”

“Do you see what’s happening here, doctor?” Miranda asked. 

Chakwas had seated herself and was watching the image, her eyebrows drawn together in consternation. “I’m afraid I…I don’t. Tali…she sounds quite mad.”

“Mad?” Miranda considered. “Yes. Tali, and all the Quarians for that matter, are lost. They are never getting their homeworld back. They’re trapped within their rickety little suits in their rickety little ships going nowhere. The best a Quarian can hope for is to prolong the exile a bit longer before their entire species dies of the flu. It’s not the sort of thing that one wants to focus on, so instead she grips on to the one thing she can control with a fury.” She snorted. “’God-Creator.’ I wonder how long she’s had that line ready.”

“If Tali’s grief has driven her to this she is to be pitied,” Chakwas replied.

“You really think so?” Miranda asked, nodding towards the image.

Tali had ordered the Geth to lay out on the floor, as flat as it could with the protrusions in its back. She stepped over it, straddling the synthetic’s chest. “You wouldn’t know anything about contact with another living being, would you? About sex?” It was obviously a rhetorical question. “Sex is supposed to be a joy. Sharing pleasure and intimacy. It’s not that, for the Quarians. We spend days sick while we acclimate suit environments, and the actual act itself is…marred…by the desperate knowledge that conception _must_ occur, for the race to survive. Taking pleasure with a partner, for its own sake, is unheard of.” She knelt down, tracing the seams in the Geth’s head with her fingers. “That will change, though. This mobile platform has no microbes, no hostile amino acids, no contagions.” Tali slid her body along the Geth’s length. “I will _perfect_ you, and you will serve me _intimately_. I’ll keep you like a favored pet.” 

Miranda laughed. “You see, doctor? This is why we can’t trust aliens. Even within our own dear, sweet Tali’zorah there is something decidedly…inhuman. Do you honestly believe that Tali would stand with us if she thought for a moment that turning on us would get her closer to her worshipful Geth? _Look_ at her!” Tali’s omnitool flared, and she moaned as the personal modifications she had built into her environment suit hummed to life. “She’s _rutting_ the thing. This is why Cerberus exists. The galaxy is full of depraved creatures like _her_ and someone has to be able to keep her in her place.” Chakwas said nothing, only watching the scene in front of her grimly.

Five steps brought Miranda to the AI core’s door. “EDI, open the door,” Miranda said, readying her own omnitool. The door slid open and Tali twisted off of the Geth with a shriek. Miranda stepped inside, letting the door close behind her. “Found yourself a new toy, Tali’zorah?”

“What are you…you have no right!”

“Don’t be ridiculous. This is my ship.” Miranda smirked as Tali stilled her suit’s personal modifications. “Tell me, how long does a Quarian have to go before she becomes desperate enough to fuck a Geth?”

“I don’t have to answer you,” Tali snapped, rising to her feet. She began to step past Miranda, who spoke a single word.

“Pain.”

Tali collapsed immediately, clutching her sides as waves of anguish flooded into her body from her suit. She _quaked_ under it, but not a whimper passed her lips. “I’m impressed!” Miranda gloated, nudging the Quarian with the toe of her boot. “I’ve seen far more formidable individuals scream themselves hoarse at that setting.” She dialed down the sensation via her omnitool.

“What…how…?” Tali gasped. 

“The how is simple,” Miranda said, seating herself on the Geth’s prone form. “EDI began working to hack your suit’s on-board systems the moment you came on board. Every aspect of its functioning is now under her control, and accordingly mine.” She shrugged. “Genius that you are, I’m certain you could defeat that control given time. Which is why EDI will be monitoring you closely. Any efforts that EDI believes could even be tangentially related to circumventing my control, and, well…” she snapped her fingers, and this time Tali howled. “Your modifications are quite thorough, aren’t they? You’ve built in stimulators for all your erogenous zones. This must be excruciating for you.”

“…why?”

“You told the Geth that you’re are its God-Creator, and that it would worship you. But you were really working to convince yourself, weren’t you? I know that people in positions of powerlessness come up with elaborate fantasies to make themselves seem strong.” Miranda shrugged. “I, on the other hand, am not coming from a position of powerlessness. I’m certainly not going to make you worship me…but you will obey.”

“Go to hell,” Tali snarled. 

Miranda raised one finger to her omnitool, and smiled at Tali’s flinch. 

The women held each other’s gaze for a long moment. Then, Tali asked: “What do you want me to do?”

“Mostly what you’ve been doing. Keep the ship running, help in the fight against the Collectors.” She considered a moment. “And who knows? I might make a present of you to Shepard. Not that he’s at all bored of Yeoman Chambers, but a bit of variety would be good for him.” Tali’s aghast expression behind her mask was all Miranda could have hoped for. She clanged a fist off of the synthetic’s leg. “I’ll let you keep your Geth sex toy, if only because you’re not going to be able to resist using it and when you do you’ll remember it’s only because I allowed it.”

“You’re insane,” Tali rose to her feet, her form braced with fury. “If you think I wo-” 

“Stop breathing,” Miranda intoned.

Tali staggered, hands clutching had her rebreather mask. “ _Every_ one of your suit’s functions, Tali.” The Quarian sank to her knees, and Miranda slid off the Geth to crouch across from her. She took Tali’s helmet in her hands, forcing her to look up. “It’s like you told the Geth. You’ve forgotten your place. You need to be reminded.” Weak wheezing issued from the suit’s speakers. “I am everything you want to be, Tali. I’m everything you _can’t_ be. Keep your place, or the consequences for you and your entire sickly species will be _egregious_.”

Tali’s hands came up, and for a moment Miranda thought she was trying to fight her off. But the fingers slipped past, finding clasps and fasteners and with a hiss of escaping atmosphere the faceplate of Tali’s helmet fell away. The Quarian sucked in deep breaths of air, filling her burning lungs, and Miranda forced her head up to get a better look at the features so long hidden. Tali struggled to get her faceplate back in place, surely hoping to expose herself to as little infection as possible, but Miranda batted it away. 

“Somehow I thought you’d be prettier,” Miranda said, rising. “You’ll do, though. So long as you remember who’s in charge.” Tali scrambled after her faceplate, her chest heaving as the suit’s atmosphere systems restarted. “Best start taking your antibiotics now,” Miranda tossed over her shoulder as she left.

Outside in medbay Chakwas watched her emerge from the AI core. Miranda nodded to the image still hovering in the center of the room. “You see, doctor? Not so threatening when you know how to deal with them.”

“All I saw,” Chakwas intoned, “was one mad woman abusing another. If that’s what you think humanity is…if that’s what you think humanity _needs_ …I feel sorry for you.”

“Charming,” was Miranda’s only reply. She left medbay, crossing the deck to her office. Dr. Chakwas had worn her welcome thin with that last comment. Miranda sat at her desk and activated one of her contingency procedures; fortunately, she’d made sure Shepard recruited Zaeed for just this sort of situation.


End file.
